Kennedy's Story: The 167th Alutine
by CommissarCorgi34
Summary: When an insidious threat infiltrates the 167th Alutine regiment, the loyalists must band together to have any chance of survival.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note: Hello all, here's another Imperial Guard story about a different army, but Captain Steele will be making an appearance. Please feel free to add comments and feedback as I could use some motivation to finish this project. Enjoy!

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Lieutenant Kennedy

"Lieutenant Kennedy?" The man behind the desk asked me as my second in command helped drag me into the small waiting room.

"Yes, the Major sent me a summons." I told the half metal scribe who stared at the white wall for a minute before looking up to me and Veria.

"That was a month ago. This tardiness will be noted." He stated in a monotone voice.

"You'll have to excuse me on account of being pinned down behind enemy lines for two months." Veria snapped at the half human. He stared off into space again for a solid fifteen seconds.

"This has been noted." He responded. "She will see you now." He said and went back to staring as I guessed he sorted files or whatever these weird scribes did. I limped over to the door as Veria opened it. I walked in to see the Major in her immaculate uniform with her over sized cap and jacket on. I always found it odd how her jacket was three sizes bigger than needed and was worn no matter what the temperature was. I reluctantly went to attention and saluted which felt like I was stabbed in the ribs.

"Major." I grunted between ragged breaths. She inspected us with disdain, taking her time as I wheezed. I had my normal uniform on but I hadn't had time to change, much less visit the medicae. The once snow white parts of the uniform where now covered in dirt, ash, burns, and dried blood. I had blood soaked bandages wrapped around my grimy blue vest, with matching bandages on my head and leg. Veria wasn't much better as she had her longlas on her back, and her arm in a sling. She was also cover head to toe in dirt and grime.

"At ease." She said almost making me collapse but luckily Veria caught me with her arm.

"Excuse me Ma'am." I apologize. "I got your message before I was able to stop by the medicae so I am still not at full health. May I sit?" I asked her making her frown as she thought about it.

"You may." She said reluctantly. "And why did you bring her?" She asked waving her hand to Veria whose face was clouded with anger.

"I couldn't walk on my own, so I brought my most trusted women to help me." I told her calmly as I grunted lowering myself into the chair. "I did not want to delay you anymore then I already have."

"Delayed is an understatement Lieutenant." She said making Veria snap.

"You'll have to excuse us, we were just pinned down behind enemy lines for a month!" She snarled but I held up my hand.

"That's enough!" I told her forcefully, making her grumble and step back. "My apologies Ma'am. Tensions are high after our mission, are supplies were not intended to last for that long."

"Yes, because you were sent in to assassinate the leader and call in an extraction. It was not a complicated mission!" The Major stressed.

"Ma'am, the cult you sent us into was much more powerful than expected." I told her. "There were four times the numbers expected."

"Not to mention it was a frakking trap! They knew we were coming and shot us out the sky!" Veria put in but I only held up my hand.

"She has a point Major, they were expecting us." I told her.

"Are you accusing me of tipping off the enemy Major?" She growled.

"No Ma'am, but I would personally suggest an investigation into anyone who knew." I told her calmly.

"You are not the Major here, so that is not your call Lieutenant!" She snapped back.

"No it is not Ma'am." I nodded. "So may I ask why I was called in?"

"Yes, I would like to discuss your command team and your rank." She said shifting to grab several thick files. I sighed knowing exactly what was going to happen. I had this conversation so many times. "You have surrounded yourself with a variable rogue gallery Lieutenant." She said opening the first file.

"I also trust my team with my life." I told her.

"Oh really?" She cocked an eyebrow. "Private Phoebe. Heavy Weapons specialist. Heavy Flamer. But I see that she was only issued a flamer, not a heavy flamer. I also see there are quite a few citations for techheresy here."

"Yes, she petitioned for a heavy flamer multiple but was denied, so she improvised." I shrugged. "That flamer is the only reason I'm alive right now as she was able to hold off many of the cultists."

"Private Kaitlyns A.K.A Katie. Vox op. I see that she has had some problems with officers in the past."

"They didn't respect her, so she didn't respect them." I explained tiredly.

"She had something to do with a commissar stepping down?" She asked looking confused.

"The Commissar was fraternizing with a member of the Medicae, Katie found this out, and decided to bring this to light." I told her. "She did not do this in an appropriate manner which lead to the commissar resigning. Unfortunately this lead to the unfortunate Medicae having to step down, so I recruited her as my personal squad medic."

"Yes… I see that." She said thumbing through the file before picking up the next one. "As for your other special weapon expert." She said glancing at the women who was taking deep breaths, trying to not lose her cool like she often did. "Several drunk altercations, and I see here a report of weapon discharge off of the firing range." She said as Veria stepped forward.

"Ma'am, that was a friendly competition with some of the the ra- uh… Auxilaries." She told the Major.

"So you claim in the report but these auxilaries were nowhere to be found when the guards found you." The Major stated.

"That's what ratlings do! They scamper away and no one ever sees them!" She protested as her voice raised.

"Never-the-less you discharged a weapon off of the firing range which is a punishable offense." She stated coldly. "And you Lieutenant." She said sifting through the last folder. I let myself breath out quietly as no CO had ever found anything in that file. "The same as the rest," She started making me start in confusion. "A request for summary execution due to dissertation of your post."

"What!?" Veria and I shrieked in unison.

"Yes, you were given orders two weeks ago but you neglected this assignment leading to your branding as deserters." She explained like this was a completely normal course of action.

"What the frak!? We were fighting for our Emperor damned lives!" Veria shouted marching towards the desk.

"This is absurd!" I told the unmoved commander. "My women were fighting and dying for this army and you now want to execute us?"

"I don't make the rules. You did not report for your duty Lieutenant, you therefore are a deserter." She told me. Veria slammed her fist on the table.

"This is groxshit!" She shouted as I tried to restrain her.

"Veria, you need to calm down!" I urged her as the door smashed open as guards came in.

"This is a mistake!" I shouted as the guard yanked me to my feet which felt like my chest was ripping like fabric.

"I don't think it is Lieutenant." She smiled cruelly as Veria pulled out of one of the guards grasp and punched him but her hand met with a crunch. She cried out in pain, holding her injured hand before she was slammed to the floor and a rifle cracked into the back of her head. "Take them to the brig with the rest of their squad."


	2. Chapter 2

Commissar Madsen

"I hate these formal events." I muttered as I checked over my uniform in the mirror as my mentor smiled. We were getting ready for a meeting with High Command in the capital hive city.

"Our rank is a political officer, this is our job." The older man smiled. He was a tall and thin man with weathered leathery skin. He had a thick white mustache over his thin smile and little wisps of white hair under his large commissarial hat. His white sash denoted his position as Lord Commissar over my scarlet sash of a Commissar. Otherwise our uniforms were the same as every other Commissar. He had an ornate saber at his side opposite of his augmented right arm.

"I just feel I should be out in the field." I said as he smiled softly.

"I know Madsen, I felt the same at your age. But these events boost the moral of the citizens and help us make sure that High Command is getting things done." Thorsten told me as I checked over my plasma pistol. The door opened and a man in a suit came in.

"My lord, meeting is starting." He told us.

"Thank you." Thorsten told the man. I followed him into the conference room and surveyed the room. The table was a long table with at least ten seats on each side with one at the head of the table. Several people stood along the walls, a pair of skitarii rangers stood behind a techpriest I recognized, while the rest were mostly just mercenaries who were milling around talking. Our vanguard stood out from the others as they were in the regiments colorful uniforms and stood at attention. I saluted the two women who crisply returned the salute. The two twin sisters had served with me since I was a junior commissar.

"Gemini." I greeted them with a smile as I used their nickname.

"Ma'am." They nodded with a slight smile. Lord Commissar Toresten greeted the two Cadians who stood behind his seat. One had a bionic eye and a good chunk of his lower jaw was augmented too. The other had two metal legs and his otherwise handsome face was ruined by deep scarring. They were both obviously veterans and had been assigned to protect the commissar for twenty years now. I had known them for a couple years now as I severed under Toresten, but I never did find out their real names, so I always called them by their squad nicknames. They saluted me as well.

"Ma'am." Scars greeted as Iron Jaw didn't talk much even before half his jaw was ripped off by a genestealer.

"Boys." I nodded.

"Ain't this a lot of hired guns for a meeting?" He asked Toresten.

"It is, they've been multiplying like sump rats." He confirmed. "I don't like it. I have no idea where they are getting these mercenaries but they're starting to outnumber our own troops…" He said staring at the men who glanced at us while talking. "Stay on alert." He told them as the Lord Commander walked in. We all stood at attention as she sat in her large luxurious seat at the head of the table.

"At ease." She said after staring at us for a second. "Shall we begin?" She said as one of the women cleared her throat.

"We have word on the AWOL unit of the western edge. They have returned, but the Major has already apprehended them." The scribe reported. "Their execution is already planned."

"Excuse me ma'am but why would they do that?" I asked the scribe.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"I mean, why would they return after going AWOL? They already got away without punishment, why would they return just to be executed?" I asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the lightest traces of a smile on his Torestens face, apparently I was asking the right questions.

"I don't attempt to understand the traitor Commissar." The woman replied.

"Well as that is my job, I would like to interrogate these deserters." I told them. "If guardsman are deserting, that is a clear sign of wavering moral." I told them, which while completely true, was a good excuse to get back in the field.

"The execution has already been ordered Ma'am." She told me but before I could respond Toresten cut in.

"As members of the Commissariat, we are the authority on moral issues and punishments steaming from them." He told them. "So if Commissar Madsen believes there is a moral problem, you will accommodate her investigation, unless you'd like her to report you for impeding official Commissariat business." Interrupted my mentor.

"Actually sir, I don't have the pull for discipline of a member of high command." I told him.

"Well remembered, but I have that authority." He smiled as he placed his bolt pistol on the table. The officer paled as all of the mercenaries in the room started to shift. Our guards barely shifted but I knew the four enough to know that the safeties were off and targets were picked.

"Are you threatening my high command Commissar?" The Lord asked as she stood to look imposing but the older man only smiled thinly and stayed sitting, looking relaxed to the untrained eye.

"No my Lord, I am just reminding your High Command what my job is." He told her evenly. "And I am starting to question your dedication to the cause of the Emperor. I have seen no reinforcements for pressed areas, but many reinforcements to insignificant outposts. I also have to question where these mercenaries are coming from, and how you are paying them if you say that you have no money to get more equipment for our soldiers." He told them as I slowly drew my bolt pistol under the table as it was too close range for my plasma pistol.

"How dare you!" She shouted as she rose up even bigger. "I am tired of your interference with the broods plans!" She reached for her pistol but was cut in half by bolt shells from Toresten's pistol that was still on the table. We both stood with our pistols out sweeping across the mercenaries who had all grabbed their weapons.

"All of you who have turned from the light of the Emperor, your deceit is in the open. I will give you the Emperor's Mercy!" He announced before one mercenary leapt at us but three ruby red hellgun rounds ripped through him as Iron Jaw growled in satisfaction.

"We are loyal to the Omnissah!" The techpriest told us as we continued our standoff.

"I'm glad to hear it KZE-568." I told the priest as I eyed up a twitchy mercenary.

"Orders sir?" Scars asked as he aimed his volley gun.

"Cover the cogs." He told them. "KZE-568 would you please get to the exit, and then cover us?" He said but as soon as the skitarii moved the mercenaries decided this was their moment to rush us. Scars opening salvo cut the attackers closest to the techpriest apart as I put a bolt round in ones chest blowing two of it's three arms off. I went for the closest one but it caught the bolter before I could shoot him so I backhanded the hybrid with my powerfist causing it to fold in half and fly across the room. I fired and winged another one with a shriek as one was cut in half by Torestens powersword. I heard a scream inlaid with binary as one attacked the techpriest, going over the destroyed body of a ranger. I sprinted over firing my pistol which caused the mutant to turn with a hiss before my fist turned its head into a red mist. I rolled over the techpriest but it was obvious he was beyond saving.

"Watch out!" I heard the croaking voice of Iron Jaw shout. Thorsten rose his sword a second too late before a claw ripped through his armor like it was nothing. The hybrid shrieked in triumph before a volley of hellgun rounds ripped through it. I shouted and charged as another one slashed a blade across Iron Jaws chest dropping the Cadian before a pair of bayonets dropped the creature. I smashed another three armed monstrosity back but the clawed arm ripped a large gash in my arm. I shouted as I held the bleeding wound. I ran and knelt next to the wounded Lord Commissar.

"Frakk he was fast…" He coughed with a pained smile. Blood was gushing from the wound as he put his hands over it which only succeeded in covering his hands in blood.

"Can you move my Lord?" I asked him making him laugh and cough up more blood.

"I love your spirit my girl, but we both know I'm dead." He smiled as he struggled with his sash. "What I need is for you to take my sash…" He coughed as he pulled it off and pressed it into my hand, leaving a big bloody handprint on the white sash. He then pulled and weird box that was covered in pieces of metal and the signs of the mechanicium. "Take this Madsen." He said pressing it to my chest.

"No, we need to get you to…"

"Madsen!" He snapped at me. "You are in charge now. This army needs a leader, as you are n-now a Lord, you…" He retched up blood. "S-Save this world." He told me as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Ma'am, we need to go now!" One of the Gemini told me as she fired one handed.

"No, we…" I started but Scars cut me off.

"He's gone!" He snapped at me. "You're in charge now!" He shouted as he sent salvos into the mercenaries who were now pouring in through the doors.

"Ranger!" I shouted making the remaining cybernetic soldier look up from where he was pulling something out of the expired techpriests head. "You're with me now!" I told him as we started to back towards the door he was next to. "Frags!" I shouted as we lobbed grenades before sprinting out the door.

"What now Ma'am?" Scars asked as I turned to the skitarii.

"Do you know this facility?" I asked him.

"Well I don't just stand around looking pretty." He responded in a normal voice which caught me off guard as I wasn't used to a sarcastic cog.

"Can you get me something that'll let me send a call to every channel on the planet?"

"Find a big antenna?" He said. "I think I could do that."

"Then lead the way Coggy." One of the Gemini snapped back.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note: Hello all, thank you for reading my work! Please feel free to add comments and feedback as I could use some motivation to finish this project. Enjoy!

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Valerie

"Where are you taking them?" I asked as the guards yanked up my squadmate from her medical bed. The man in front of me was absolutely hulking. He was a sickly grey mountain of muscle with a potato like head.

"The Major is ordering them brought to the brig." The Sargent grunted to me. "If you know where anyone else from her squad is tell me." He glared down at me. I thanked the Emperor for my Medicae uniform that I had put on as my uniform had been destroyed.

"I believe one said she was heading to the armory, after I fixed her up." I told the man after some thought.

"Good." He growled turning to his men. "Take her to the brig! The rest of the you with me, let's get to the armory!" He growled and they rushed off. As the other dragged the groggy Phoebe who was currently too drugged to understand what was happening. I watched until they left before letting out a blistering string of curses, earning me some glares from my former sisters. I tapped my commbead as I started to raid one of the nearby cabinets.

"Katie!" I snapped as I slipped on one of the hospitaller gauntlets which felt natural after all of my years using one.

"What?" A tired voice came back.

"Where are you?" I asked her as I grabbed a few bottles of sedative before grabbing my laspistol and strapped it to my belt, hidden under the flowing skirt.

"The vox room, why?" She asked as I hurried out of the tent.

"The MP's are rounding our squad up and taking us to the brig!" I told her as I ran through the crowded tent of our makeshift command center.

"Why in the Warp would they do that?" She asked.

"Frakk if I know!" I told her. "I just have a feeling it isn't good!"

"Let me check the channels real fast, they should have a channel for the MP's."

"That'll be encrypted won't it?" I asked her as I barely dodged running into a group of soldiers.

"Has that ever stopped me Val?" I could hear her cocky smirk. "Wait, what in the Golden Throne?"

"Did you find something?" I asked as I caught sight of the largest building on the base.

"Yeah, apparently we are being brought in for desertion!" She shouted causing me to spill out curses. I was cut off by a blaring voice across my commbead.

"This is Lord Commissar Madsen." The women's voice was forceful but I could hear a minuscule waiver in it. "High Command is under attack. We have traitors in our ranks. They have killed Lord Commissar Johnson." She announced. "I am acquisitioning all units in the 167th to gather what forces they can and get to the planetary capital. These traitors must be punished! May the Emperor protect you and guild your blades." The messaged started to loop.

"Well, that explains the charges." Katie commented. "What do we do?" She asked.

"You, go gather up what forces you can." I told her as I slammed through the doors to the building. "I'm going to get Phoebe and then we'll meet up."

"Where?" She asked.

"The barracks. Get them ready to take the garage because we are going to need some vehicles. Also get a hold of Kennedy." I told her before clicking my commbead off. I turned the corner to see two nervous whiteshields in front of the doors to the brig. They looked over and the shorter one stepped forward.

"Halt!" He said as the other nervously gripped his lasgun as I stopped. "W-Why are you down here?" He asked nervously as I held up my hands.

"I was sent to treat the prisoners." I told them sweetly, flashing them both a slightly flirtatious smile.

"I didn't hear anything about them sending a Sister." The second one told the other one, his eyes flicking between his friend and me.

"I mean, the one was bleeding pretty bad." The one shrugged. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt, but I should definitely check for weapons." He said with a nervous grin of an awkward teen which, to be fair, he was.

"Of course!" I smiled warmly as I tinkered with my gauntlet. I felt sorry for the two, they were just following bad orders. Him and his buddy had a quick conversation before he walked over, putting his gun over his shoulder on it's strap. He walked up and started with my arms while I smiled at him making him blush and turn red. Once he started patting towards my gauntlet, I used the injector on my thumb to prick his thumb.

"Ow!" He yelped pulling back.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said as the other whiteshield ran up just in time to catch his friend as he collapsed.

"What did…" I cut him off with a injector of the same high powered sedative to his neck causing him to drop like a rock in a tangled pile with his friend.

"Oops. Sleep tight boys." I smirked before opening the door and entering the dark hallway were I saw a crowd of big brutes. I ducked down behind one of the many crates in the area.

"What are we supposed to do?" One of the big thugs asked his friends.

"Well, now we are in the open." Another responded as I peeked over and saw the cell they were protecting. I saw three people inside of it.

"It's too late for them to stop the brood now!" Another cackled as I stood up, confirming that they were hostiles.

"Hey!" The biggest of the four shouted at me as he lumbered towards me. "Who the frakk are you?" He grunted as he toward over me.

"I'm just here to get the prisoners." I told him smiling warmly.

"Oh yeah?" His friend grunted. "They going in for execution already?"

"Yes, so I'm here to take them to the execution." I said walking past the massive man.

"Wait… they still haven't found the two other brods…" One of the ones said standing between me and the cell where my squad watched me with interest as I froze.

"Oh yeah! Wasn't that the slut who screwed the commissar?" He said as I clenched my fist as my surgical blade whirled up making them all start in surprise.

"You really shouldn't have said that…" I growled between my clenched teeth.

"Why is th…" The giant brute didn't finish before I swung around, and smashed my well armored shin into the side of his knee causing it to buckle sideways. As he fell, I swung my gauntlet up. His neck met the whirling blade in a satisfying display of gore and pulverized bone. I pulled back with the blade whirling, my face and armor splattered with blood as his head rolled past the stunned men.

"Who's next?" I growled at the three stunned men. The first one to react took two shots from my laspistol to the shoulder and head dropping his steaming corpse. I parried a swung pipe with my armored left wrist and slashed the man's arm causing it to be ripped open as he crumpled to the ground before I kicked him in the side of the head, shutting his whining up. The last took a lasbolt to each leg before my blade tore open his neck. I dropped the body and looked up to see Pheobe's eyes were wide as she looked at me, covered in gore and surrounded by corpses. I snapped out of my rage and found the keys to release them.

"Remind me not to piss you off Valarie!" She said as I pulled the cell doors.

"Can they walk?" I asked trying to ignore what I had just done. My job was to heal people, not slaughter them, yet here I was again, my emotions getting the best of me. I tried to wake up Kennedy but she just groaned. I fiddled with my gauntlet before injecting my commander with stimulant causing her eyes to fly open.

"What in the?!" She shouted with a start.

"Wow there!" I said grabbing her shoulder. "You're safe Ma'am!" I reassured her.

"Why the hell am I here?" She asked.

"The cult infiltrated high command, and the Major seems to want us dead!" I explained to her as I helped her up as Pheobe ran over grabbed and kissed her abomination of a flamer.

"Oh mama missed you!" She said before swinging her armored reserve fuel pack on to her back before hefting the strap on to her shoulder. I grabbed Kennedy's weapons and handed it to her.

"Sit down for a second Ma'am, you can't walk on that leg like this, let my check it out." I told her as she graciously sat down of a nearby container, almost immediately falling asleep despite the stim. I undid the bindings and fiddled with the gauntlet as I looked at the wound. She had taken a sword slash across the leg that was luckily not deep enough to hit bone. I had patched it in the field but I hadn't had the equipment to figure out why the bleeding was worsening as the mission went on. I stood and checked her dog tags before grabbing the correct pack from my pack. "Veria, can you hold this for me?" I asked as I inserted the needle into her arm. The marksmen put down her longlas and grabbed it from me. "Hold it it up and apply light pressure." She nodded in response.

I then knelt back down to her thigh and sprayed a local anesthetic as I mumbled the correct hymns of healing. The melodious rhymes felt comforting and reminded me of being back in training with my sisters. I couldn't help feel a tug of regret as I thought about my fall from grace with the sisters I had been raised with, only a few even would talk to me anymore. But thanks to Kennedy I had new sisters, albeit slightly crazy ones. I opened the wound and found the marks were I had sealed off the bleeding but a small hole at the top of the wound was trickling blood. I grabbed my tweezers and after another burst of numbing agent reached in until the metal clacked against something hard. I grabbed it and pulled it out to look at it.

"What is that?" Veria asked me.

"The tip the the sword that hit her." I said dropping it in a bag to study later in case it was poisoned. "It must have broke off and in my rush I didn't see it earlier so it worked in deeper causing more bleeding." I said before going back to cleaning her wound while singing more hymns of cleansing. I then used what amounted to a large stapler to close the wound. "Okay, I'm not going anywhere without you again." I said praising the little machine spirit in my gauntlet.

"Am I good to move again?" Kennedy asked as I took out the needle in her arm which woke her up.

"You are good to go, but if we get the chance, I'd like to do a more thorough checkup on you and pretty much everyone else in the squad." I told her.

"Of course but right now we got to get some transport and get to the capital." She said as she stood and drew her pistol and sword. "Let's go ladies!" She commanded as we started towards the exit.

"Katie, we need a sitrep!" I said into the commbead on the squad network so everyone could hear. What we heard was a string of curses that'd get Katie sent to the repenta squads if she was a sister as well as the sounds of gunfire.

"The sitrep is FUBAR!" She shouted back. "The mercs and half the 337th have turned on us! I got reports of pockets that are pinned down all over the camp."

"What's your position?" Kennedy asked.

"Holed up in the woods by our camp." She reported. "Losses are surprisingly light but we are pinned down by heavy stubbers and heavy bolters. The only thing we got is a squad of mortars keeping them from advancing on us."

"Sit tight, we are on our way!" Kennedy told her as she opened the door. We all ducked and slammed ourselves against the wall as we heard the bark of a heavy stubber. Kennedy stuck her head out and gestured us to be quiet and spilt up as we followed her. I crept up across from Kennedy as we turned a corner to see the source of the chattering heavy stubber. At the entrance to the building four mercenaries had set up a sandbag emplacement. They were firing at one of the squads in our company that was hiding behind vehicles that were scattered around the loading area for cargo ships. Kennedy smiled and stood and announced loudly to Pheobe.

"Pheobe would you be so kind to get rid of these traitors?" Pheobe smiled ear to ear as she stepped out turning nozzles and checked gauges. The mercs all turned and looked stunned.

"With pleasure! Come on baby, show these xeno lovers what you can do." She cooed in a proud motherly tone to the machine spirit of her flamer.

"How did they…" The man was cut off as a torrent of flames caught all four men and their position on fire as they screamed but almost immediately fell silent as they fell to the ground.

"Good girl!" Pheobe whispered to the psychotic machine spirit of her weapon. The squad started to get out of cover smiling when they saw us as a few instinctively started to sweep the area for threats.

"Medic!" One woman shouted causing me to instinctively run over.

"What happened?" I asked as a jogged over.

"She was the first to come here and was hit by the heavy stubber!" She said as she rounded the corner to see a woman on the ground with a uniform wrapped around her bleeding chest. The woman next to her was kneeling down applying pressure to the wound.

"Let me see the wound." I told her gently as I pulled her arms out of the way. I numbed it before looking it over. "Frakk." I filled the hole with a coagulant agent to slow the bleeding. "Kennedy, we need to get her to the medicae. They have the time and resources for this, I don't." I told her.

"We could use the fire power too." She nodded. "Okay ladies, get her mobile and see if you can get the heavy stubber mobile. We are heading out in a minute!" She command as the women ran over and started breaking down the slightly singed heavy stubber. I tapped my commbead.

"Sister Caroline, come in!" I said.

"Valerie, I don't have time to talk to you!" She growled before I heard the bark of a bolter.

"I have wounded and a small group of loyalists."

"Well, if you could help clear out these filthy xenos, then we might be able to help! Fear the Emperor's Light traitors!" She shouted as I heard more bolter fire.

"The Medicae sisters are under attack!" I told Kennedy.

"Then we need to move." She said grimly. "Let's go, the Sisters need our help!" She shouted as we started to jog towards the medicae tent. I pulled out my laspistol again as we weaved through the tents, following the sound of bolter fire. We heard a large boom causing us all to instinctively duck before a bunch of guardswomen burst out of one of the tents as we all raised our guns.

"Identify yourselves!" Kennedy shouted as the ragged squad looked up.

"Loyalists!" The sargent shouted who was still clinging to her chainsword despite it missing most of its teeth. "The traitors are attacking the Sisters!" She cried in outrage.

"We are here to help, where are they?" She asked as she walked up to the ragged sargent.

"We are about twenty five yards behind their lines." She told Kennedy as she pulled a bulky bolter off of her back and cleared a jammed shell. "We were able to send a box of frags raining down on them." She grinned grimly. "But half of my squad was killed in the retreat." She said as I saw her get choked up but Kennedy put her hand on her shoulder.

"You did better than anyone could have asked." She told her softly. "I want you to take half of the forces to the other flank."

"Really?" She asked confused.

"Of course, consider yourself promoted." She smiled. "Listen for my word to attack, and take the stubber with you." She said as the woman thanked her and started grabbing people to help her. "Valerie, get on the horn with the Sisters. Have them press the middle on my command." I nodded.

"Yes Ma'am!" I told her as I tapped my commbead and relayed the message.

We moved into position where we could see the mercenaries and traitors firing on the Sisters who were using crates as a makeshift defense line. I saw a few of my order splayed out on the ground which made my blood boil. I heard one high pitched crying above the others that was in no mans land. I saw a crater and a mangled arm laying in the crater. I saw dyed white hair poking up from behind a broken crate that offered little cover to the Sister behind it. My instincts kicked in as I broke from our cover in a full sprint.

"What the in the warp are you doing?" Kennedy growled into my comm as I absentmindedly dropped three on the traitors with a frag grenade causing the others to shout out and turn as they started opening up.

"Frakk." She cursed before standing. "Now!" Our line erupted in lasfire as flames engulfed a stubber position and stubber fire lite up another.

Now I would like to say that I strode through the enemy, protected purely by the light of the Emperor. However, I'm a combat medic, so I know to duck and weave and generally looked like an idiot as I tried to weave through fifty people firing at me. If it weren't for the cover fire, I would've died. Even then I took a few glancing hits. As I got within five feet of the cover, a stubber round hit my armored shoulder which spun me around and I slammed into the grass. I growled and pulled myself to knees to look over my patient.

"Sister Nikki!" I shouted over the gunfire and screaming. "I'm here to help!" I told her as she looked up at me dazed.

"Val?" She asked confused as she looked up from her mangled arm.

"Yeah, it's me Nikki." I tried to smile comfortingly. The heavy stubber rounds had ripped her right arm apart and one round had found its way through the shattered carapace armor which now was welling blood.

"Why are you…" She trailed off as her head fell back but I caught it. I realized that there was a lot of blood coming from her shattered arm.

"Hey, no passing out on me Nikki!" I told her sternly as I injected her shoulder with painkillers. I grabbed my bag and pulled out a tourniquet and slipped it around her arm and tightened it until the stream of blood slowed. I then used a piece of gauze to soak up some of the blood in the hole in her chest before praying as I heated a probe which I pressed against the wall of the wound with a hiss as she screamed. I luckily had done this enough times to know to hold her down as I cauterized the wound. I canted the hymn of cleansing as I did it and she joined in drunkenly from blood loss. I pulling back and examining the mangled arm. I could no longer tell where the elbow used to be and the hand was about ten feet away. I sadly realized what I needed to do. I revved my blade as I held down her arm, right at the shoulder and started to cut through what was the end of her bicep. She thrashed and screamed despite the painkillers as I grimly chanted hymns of sacrifice and healing. The blade tugged as it ran out of flesh to carve as I praised the machine spirit in it. I quickly covered the wound which slowly leaked blood as the tourniquet did its job. I looked over the cover and saw the battle winding down as Pheobe incinerated the last of the traitors. I gently lifted my slightly built former friend and carried her to the medicae tent. "I got a critical!" I shouted as two Sisters ran out to take her from me before I turned and ran back towards where Kennedy was instructing women while someone shouted for a medic.

"Medic!" The woman shouted. As I ran up and knelt down next to her.

"What's the situation?" I asked as I looked over the young brunette who was struggling to breath as blood welled from the hole in her chest.

"She took a stubber round to the chest." She stated though it could already obviously see that. "Is she going to be okay doc?" I winced at the nickname, doctors could fix damn near anything but I wasn't a doctor, I was a medic.

"Hey sweetie, you're going to be fine." I lied to the young girl who nodded weakly, as if my words comforted her. "Let me give you something for the pain." I said as the plunger sent the Emperor's mercy into her system. She slowly closed her eyes with a peaceful look on her face. I said a quick prayer before looking at her friend. "She's done her duty to the Emperor, she's gone to the Golden Throne." I told her putting my hand on her shoulder. Her eyes were filled with tears as she nodded.

"Valerie, I need you over here!" Kennedy shouted as I nodded and jogged over. "Okay we need to secure the motor pool. The place is overrun so we just need to pick up what loyalists we can and get to the capital to help the Commissar." She said as we all nodded as she activated her commbead. "Katie, I need a sitrep."

"Well, I decided some sabotage was in order." We heard the bark of stub pistols. "I told you, give up ya xeno loving bastards!" She shouted before we heard her lasgun reply. "I might be a bit pinned down…" She replied making Kennedy sigh.

"Veria, take Pheobe and Val and pull Kat's ass out of the fire." She told us. "I'll take the rest and get us a ride, meet me at the motor pool."


	4. Chapter 4

Major Kennedy

* * *

"Come on ladies! Double time it!" I shouted as I lead my small group of loyalists towards the motor pool. "Get the mortars in position!" I shouted as we double timed it. "Lieutenant, you hold a team here to cover the mortars in case we get flanked. And get a line to our armor!"

"Yes Ma'am!" She saluted before getting a small fire team together. We heard the roar of heavy bolters, and the thundering of heavy ordinance as the motor pool was turned into a frantic tank battle.

"Ma'am, I have the armored command for you." I heard in my commbead.

"Patch me through." I told her as we got closer to the smoke filled buildings.

"Who is this?" I heard a voice ask obviously annoyed at being interrupted from her battle. I came to expect this from treadheads at this point.

"This is Kennedy, I have loyalists with me, we're here to help! And who am I speaking to?"

"Alicia Bellhouse, charmed." The tanker replied dryly.

"What's your strength Alicia?"

"Not enough! I have me and another Russ, five sentinels, and a half dozen chimeras. I also have some three Lemans worth of pissed off tankers and some cog priests." She replied before cursing as I heard a heavy stubber chatter in the background. "What're your girls packing?"

"We have a lascannon team, and a couple grenade launchers." I informed her. "What does the opposing force look like?"

"At least four Russ, though from what I can tell, the majority of the crews aren't trained with them. They also have a couple scouts sentinels running around here somewhere."

"Can you send me a crew or two, to my position?" I asked her, I think I might be able to get you another Russ."


	5. Chapter 5

Alicia Bellhouse

* * *

"Lascannon ready Ma'am!" Bionda, my drive yelled over the loud autoloader as it sent a red hot shell casing into water making it hiss. I always loved that noise, it meant Diamond Eyes had just dispensed the wrath of the Emperor on some nameless scum.

"Prepare to fire las and one sponson on my target!" I checked my auspex as I relayed the position of a sentinel that was trying to run closer to get it's rocket launcher closer. I smiled as my hair stood on end, I caught a whiff of ozone, and the lascannon made a sound like a huge axe cleaving a tree in half. Lascannon hit the left hip of the scout, causing it to seize where my left sponson finished the job as it ignited the ammo causing it to explode.

"Main is ready!" Peachy, my main gunner yelled. I sized up the situation, as we rumbled forward. We were in a open topped warehouse, where the shipping containers were stacked ten feet higher than my tank. The Deaths Kiss, another standard pattern Russ rolled next to me spraying infantry with it's heavy stubber and three heavy bolters. Two Chimeras followed us like baby water fowl, cutting down anyone stupid enough to face their heavy bolters and multilasers. Diamond Eyes was easily the finest tank on the planet, with a lascannon and ancient plasma cannons, it was a tank hunter, and so were my crew and I. I spotted a squad of mercenaries look behind themselves, cheer, and immediately try to run to the next row of containers. I auspexed the opening they had been at. Only one thing made infantry that excited.

"Overcharge the plasmas on my spot! Hold the Las to finish the kill!" I gripped the hatch tightly, waiting for a clear shot. The Leman Russ came around the corner at a laughably slow speed, with its side presenting a target that would make any gunner smile. "Fire plasma!" The heat from the two balls of blue plasma caused my skin to tingle like a flamer tan. One shot hit the turret and turned the hull bright red, but hadn't hit anything vital. The same couldn't be said for the second shot that hit the sponson heavy bolter in the side, punching through the weaker armoring. The explosion caused the tank to jerk around. "Kiss, fire main! Aim for the sponson!" I voxed. Familiar thunderous sound was better than a lo stick after a long day. The round hit the side and punched through the already decent sized hole. The tank exploded, shrapnel sliced through infantry that was too close to the metal behemoth. "Nice shot Jessie!" I nodded to the young tanker. I saw a lot of potential in the girl when she joined a year ago. She would probably replace me as commander soon.

"Bellhouse, this is Kennedy." I tapped my microbead.

"I read you."

"You can strike two Russ off the enemy list, we've reclaimed a Punisher and knocked out the Exterminator." She informed me.

"That's good news. Follow my crew once they've saddled up and try to clear the chaff out of this warehouse, I'll finish their armor." I told her.

"Happy hunting." She responded as I heard a squealing of tires. I swung my turret to meet this threat but the Kiss was in my way.

"On your right!" I shouted but it was too late. A blinding flash carved into the side of the tank, taking out the tracks and the right gun. I saw the attacking vehicle was a mining machine, and on its front where whirling blades. The Kiss barely got a shot off which hit square but it didn't do anything but blow part of the ram off. Suddenly a piercing whine made me go white just before a high velocity shell ripped through the front of the Kiss. The shell detonated as the tank bulged pouring smoke, they were dead, and I knew it.

"Evasive maneuvers!" I shouted just before an other shell hit below the turret. I heard a gurgled scream, as the tank spun quickly and we speed into the nearest with our front to the trio of tanks. My leg buckled underneath me as I fell into the tank. I looked down and saw that Peachy had been ripped apart by shrapnel from the hit to the side. I looked down and realized why I had fallen, my leg that was now numb, had fallen down on to one of my side gunners. I blinked at my stump as it spurted blood.

"Ma'am!" Danver shouted as she grabbed our small medkit that we kept in the tank. She quickly applied a tourniquet to the stub as I started to feel light headed.

"Give me pain killers and a stimm!" I snapped at the poor young girl. "We still have a job to do!" My hair suddenly stood on end as I tasted metal in my mouth and then a searing heat hit me from the side.

"Ha!" Bionda cried out. "That's for Jessie!" She growled.

"Good shot girls!" I smiled as the painkillers hit. I hauled myself to kneel over Peachy's body. "So they have a vanquisher and another battle cannon, we can deal with the one easy, but that Vanquisher knows what it's doing." I said before hauling myself on to one foot so I could spot again.

"They'll be hunting us now. Where should we go Ma'am?" Bionda asked me.

"The last place they expect us, full throttle forward." I told her. "We target the vanquisher first, then we take on the last Russ." I told them. "Also sooth the machine spirits, we're about to over charge again." We slowed slightly as we neared the corner. "Weapons on line! For Peachy!" I shouted as we rounded the corner. We nearly rammed the Battle Tank as we came around the corner nearly missing it as I spotted the tank killer slowly moving up to support the other tank. I read the auspex and felt the turret swivel. Thuuum! The shake make my bones and organs rattle, but it made me feel better than any lover. The shell hit the turret, and ripped the cannon clean off as the lascannon and one of the plasmas tore through the side causing the tank to billow smoke.

Danver saved all of our lives. She turned her plasma cannon on the battle tank and hit its hull mounted bolter. The impact was enough to force the shot high. She also yanked me down by my foot before the shell hit the back of our turret.

"Frak!" Danvers cursed as her sponson overheated, throwing up smoke as the machine spirit chattered angrily.

"Turn to face!" I shouted as I looked at the auspex for the main cannon but it was down.

"The engine is out!" Bionda shouted as she tried to get us running again.

"Get me a new shell then!" I shouted but I saw the problem. The loader had taken a hit, causing the shell to be halfway through the loading belt. I leaned down and barely was able to lift the hefty shell. "Get me manual control!" Suddenly the huge weight shifted the tank as the tank moaned in pain, my leg throbbed sympathetically. I manhandled the shell into the loader and closed it.

"You have manual but no the auspex!"

"I don't need it!" I snapped as I pulled myself up. They turret moaned is shrieked in protest as I turned towards the other tank. I spotted my target and leaned down to grab the firing mechanism. I felt like time slowed down as the shell slammed into the melted hull mounted weapon and detonated inside the other tank. I let out a cheer before dropping back into the tank. "Good job ladies…" I smiled as I felt tired. "Now I'm going to just take a nap…" I mumbled.

"Oh no you don't!" I heard a voice far away say as arms went around my chest and pulled me out of my tank. "Stay with me commander." A soft velvety voice said.


End file.
